Trust
by RavenChristina
Summary: When Dino can't trust Hotaru with his biggest secret, what will happen to their relationship? Story five of the Aisheritu Cycle


Trust

By

Scoutfan22

(beta-read by Sqeekers)

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Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, 'cept Dino, ok?

Summary: When Dino can't trust Hotaru with his biggest secret, what will happen to their relationship?

Rating: T

Author's Notes: Hey guys! This one takes place between manga volume eight and nine. I also want to note that I got ages wrong in my story "Baby Steps". In S, Usagi and The Inners are 14 (Dino too), Chibiusa is 9 and Hotaru is 12. Oh, and Dino has a band of which Umino, Freddie and few other people are in. Enjoy!

Dedication: to Nicole. Love is out there somewhere, you'll find it.

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Hotaru sat up, breathing heavily. She'd just had an awful dream that somehow or another Dino had been hurt, and she couldn't help him.

It was then that she noticed the form of someone outside the sliding glass door of her room. She got up and went to investigate.

She gasped, "Sailor Charon!" He was lying there, bloody and battered. She threw open the door and ran to him. She kneeled beside him. Her heart pounded as she watched him. Was he dead? She lowered her head to his chest and listened.

**Arigato Kami-sama!** He was alive. His heartbeat wasn't as strong as it should've been, but he was breathing.

"Charon-sama? Can you hear me?" She waited for a moment, and then asked again. When he didn't answer this time, she knew she had to bring him inside so she could help him. The parts her father had just given her should be enough to pick him up.

She wrapped her arms around his chest under his arms and lifted, then almost dropped him. Kami, he was heavier than she thought. Wait, maybe if she healed him he would be able to stand and help her get him inside.

Hotaru placed him down on the ground and whispered in his ear, "I'm gonna heal you so you can get back some of your strength, ok?" Not that he could hear her, but she felt better saying it.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and took a deep breath, then concentrated as her hands began to glow with a purple energy. She let all the healing power and warmth flow into his body.

After a few good minutes, all her energy drained, she collapsed, gasping. Then suddenly, his chest began to rise and fall evenly and there was some color back in his cheeks. She sighed with relief, and then dragged herself back up, shaking. Maybe now she could at least drag him inside, and then she could put some bandages on him.

A few moments later, she had dragged him onto her bed, and he was looking better and better by the moment. She had finally gotten enough strength back to creep into the bathroom and get some bandages for him. She had managed to stop the bleeding with her powers, but she hadn't closed the wounds.

Oh, if only there was some way she could contact Sailor Moon or Sailor Chibimoon; then maybe they could come and get him. She began to try and figure out how to remove the top part of his fuku and had put her hands onto his tunic, trying to undo the intricate lacing at the collar.

It was at that moment that his eyes flew open, and bewildered midnight-blue eyes met her own violet gaze. "Who… where am I?" his voice rasped out quietly as he saw where he was, and a blush spread across his cheeks as he noticed where her hands were.

Hotaru blushed too and quickly pulled her hands away. She shyly averted her gaze and mumbled, "You were hurt, I healed you and I was… was trying to find out how to take off your top so I could put on the bandages. I didn't close all the wounds."

"Oh. Um… ar-arigato. I… I need to leave." He began to get up, but gentle hands pushed him down.

"Oh no, you don't. You're in no condition to leave, all right? You're staying here until you're healed." She said firmly.

"No, Hotaru, you don't understand, I-"

"Wait, how did you know my name?"

"You see there are a lot of things I can't tell you, but you're just going to have to trust me on this, I have to—"

Before anymore could be said, there was a shimmer of lights that were so bright Hotaru had to cover her eyes. When she finally could look, what she saw shocked her:

There, sitting on her bed in torn-up jeans and t-shirt, wounded in the exact same spots as Sailor Charon…

…was Dino.

"Baby, I can explain." He said softly in a pleading tone, his eyes full of fear and hurt.

"D-Dino? H-how? W-what?" was all she could say.

"The same deal with Chibiusa and Usagi; it's the same with me. I transform into Sailor Charon so I can fight evil and all that, but I can't reveal my identity to anyone." He looked at her entreatingly. "I… I didn't tell you so I could protect you."

At that Hotaru lost it. "Oh, so I can tell you that I'm half-human-half-machine, I can tell you all my darkest secrets, but you can't tell me you're a superhero? Oh wow Dino; you must really love me to not trust me."

"Darling, it's not like-"

"DON'T YOU DARE 'DARLING' ME, DINO HIKARI? WHY COULDN'T YOU TELL ME? YOU COULD HAVE DIED TONIGHT, AND THEN WHERE WOULD YOU BE!"

"Hotaru, your Father, he'll hear—"

"LET HIM, GODDAMMIT! I DON'T CARE!" Suddenly her voice lowered considerably, and it cracked as she asked, "why?"

She stood there and watched as Dino got up slowly from the bed. He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Sweetie, our enemies could use our friends or loved ones to get to us or the princess." He gulped, "Can we sit down, please?"

They sat on the edge of her bed, and he continued. "Do you remember my friend Naru? She fell in love with one of our enemies, and they used her to get to us. Well, he repented, and sided with us, but… he was killed, Taru. Naru still hasn't entirely gotten over it. Darling, I could never live with myself if you died because of me… or if I died."

Hotaru was quiet as blood began to flow again from a wound on Dino's arm; staining his shirt sleeve. She absentmindedly rolled the sleeve back and began to apply the bandage. He watched her as she finished and moved to the other arm, bandaging both gashes.

After a few minutes, she finished wrapping the bandages and she looked at her hands. She said quietly, "You better leave. If my father finds you here…"

She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Please," she whispered at the same time as a few escaped, creating dark spots on her pajamas, "please go."

Without another word Dino bolted for the glass door, threw it open and was out and across the yard within a few minutes. He leapt over the fence…

And was gone.

Hotaru fell back onto her bed and began to cry in great heaving sobs, her whole body shaking. When Kaorinite opened her door to wake her up hours later, she still hadn't stopped crying.

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"Mmm…"

Tsukino Usagi opened her bento and grinned as a little corner of drool appeared on her mouth. Mmm… lunch time! She picked up her chopsticks and was about to dig in when suddenly…

"Usagi! Hey, Usagi!"

**Oh no. It's Umino.** What did he want?

"Did you talk to Dino recently? He was supposed to call me last night about our band rehearsal, and he never did." The annoying geek-boy said as he shoved his glasses back up his nose.

Usagi gulped. **Dino missing a call about his band? This is serious.** "Um, no, I actually… uh, I'll talk to you later, Umino." Without another word she got up and went over to Makoto's desk. Ami was sitting by her, and the two of them looked up as the blonde approached them.

"Hey um…" she leaned closer and asked quietly, "Did Dino check in with you after his patrol?"

"No." Ami replied quietly, "and Mako didn't see him ride by on his bike to his school either." The brunette shook her head as Ami continued, "It's not like him. He always lets us know he's done on patrol."

"Where was he supposed to be patrolling?" she queried softly.

"By Infinity College (1). I'm supposed to be there tonight." Makoto replied inaudibly. The three girls exchanged glances, and Usagi watched as Makoto and Ami's faces turned pale. She knew that hers was as well.

"Ok, we'll check at his place once we get out of here. His Senshi ability will be enough to heal him if he's been… out there all night. Meet by the front gate?"

"Agreed."

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Knock, knock.

"Dino, are you in there?"

The reddish-black haired boy lifted up his head from its spot on the floor, where he had been sprawled out in his boxers and wife beater with a bottle of Umeshu (2) that was half-empty.

Knock, knock. "Dino are you there? If you are open the door or Mako will kick it down."

"It's… open." He said loudly; surprised at the volume of his own voice and wincing as his head protested at the noise.** So this is what being drunk feels like. I must be one of those quiet drunks.**

He winced again as Usagi's unusually higher-than-normal pitched voice gave a gasp. "Oh my goodness! Dino what are you doing out on the floor? And is that Umeshu in your hand?"

"So what if it is?" he asked quietly, and then grimaced as they all seemingly clomped into his living room removing their shoes. There was another gasp from Minako as she obviously caught sight of his torn and blood-stained clothes on the floor of his kitchen. **I'll have to explain sooner or later…**

Ami kneeled down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What happened?" she asked quietly, her ice-blue eyes looking into his.

"She knows."

"Who knows?" Rei asked as she, Minako, Usagi and Makoto kneeled down too. He lifted up his head and looked at the worried gazes of his best friends. He whispered his reply hoarsely:

"Hotaru knows I'm Sailor Charon."

Usagi blurted out, "But she knows about Chibiusa and me (3)."

"She found out. I didn't actually tell her. I never did. And before you say it Rei, I was going to tell her. Anyways, she found me outside her window after a rogue youma beat me up. She healed me and brought me inside. When I woke up I tried to leave, but before I could my transformation faded. I explained why I didn't tell her, but when I was done she asked me to leave. I heard her crying when I left."

"Why did she get so upset?" Makoto asked as she leaned over and ran a hand through his hair.

"Because I lied to her. She… she thought that because I didn't tell her, I don't trust her." A tear fell down his cheek at the same time he realized he was hung over.

"I don't… I don't know what to do," he murmured brokenly, "I didn't mean to lie to her. I didn't …" and he began to cry.

Usagi scooted over, gently put his head in her lap and stroked his brow as he cried.

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The next day Dino and Hotaru both returned to school. However, when Dino tried to approach her, Hotaru avoided him. It went like this for three class periods until finally, during passing time between third and fourth. Dino went up to her and asked her quietly, "can you talk for a minute?"

A few seconds later, they were both by the fountain in the main lobby. She sat on the fountain edge while he stood, his hands jammed into his pockets. Finally she looked up at him, her violet eyes gazing into his midnight-blues. He caught his breath as he did every time she looked into his eyes.

"Have you been hurt worse than that? Than you were the other night?" she inquired. She watched as he took a deep breath and looked away. He exhaled and turned back to her.

"Yeah. The funny thing is I've even died once already."

"Really? You… you would die for Sailor Moon?" she asked as he sat beside her. She looked at him as he put his elbows on his knees and folded his hands under his chin. He sighed and looked at her, then away.

"Hotaru… she's not just Sailor Moon, she's… she's the princess… she's our princess. In my past life I protected her. I died for her then too, and when I found her again, I just picked up on the cycle. I've watched her die twice (4), each time more than ready and willing to take her place. That's the way all the Senshi feel. We all have died for her before, and we're willing to do it however many times we have to. She is truly the embodiment of all light and goodness. She is everything we fight for: love, justice and peace. We fight to protect this world so she may live a happy life. She… she is the reason we fight."

Hotaru watched as Dino took off his glasses and wiped the tears away. "You have to understand, Taru. We keep our identities a secret so we can protect her. Enemies can use not only our loved ones, but us to get to her. When we first started fighting, our enemy took Mamoru from her and brainwashed him to fight for their side. She was in so much pain during that time, Hotaru. I… we wanted nothing more than to put ourselves in his place so she wouldn't suffer… but it's not in her nature. She always puts us before herself. She… was the one who made me believe in true love."

Tears were now shimmering in her and his eyes as they both gazed at each other. He got down on his knees and took her hands into his.

"It's not that I didn't trust you, Hotaru. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't to protect you from our enemies. I couldn't live with myself if you were hurt because of our fight… because of me. I'm so in love with you that I want us to spend the rest of our lives together and not lose you. That's why I didn't tell you Hotaru. That's why."

They both had tears running down their cheeks. Dino sat up a bit more and put his head on her chest. His warm tears soaked through Hotaru's maroon blouse as his shoulders heaved with sobs.

"Please… please forgive me." He begged through his bawling. "Please tell me you love me."

A pair of warm arms embraced him, and then Hotaru's hands reached up and gently stroked his reddish-black hair.

"I love you Dino. And I forgive you. I'll keep the same promise I made to Chibiusa and Usagi. I won't tell anybody about you…"

She lifted up his chin in her hands and gazed into his beautiful eyes. A smile spread across her face, and she brought her face down to his. "Sailor Charon." She murmured softly. She kissed him gently, and when she pulled away, she leaned into his ear and whispered two words that made him smile:

"My hero."

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If I'm alive and well, will you be there 

Holding my hand..? 

I'll keep you by my side with 

My superhuman might. 

Kryptonite... – Three Doors Down

End

(1) Infinity College is Mugen High in the Dub. I know I've referred to it as Mugen in my other fics, but well…

(2) Umeshu – plum wine. The authentic stuff has a green Ume (or plum) in the bottom of the bottle.

(3) In manga volume eight, Usagi and Chibiusa transform in front of Hotaru. Then, when the fight is over, before Usa can stop her, Chibi-chan reveals their identities. In the same volume Hotaru promises to keep their secret.

(4) Once in the Silver Millennium, and the next during the Sailor Moon R movie.

That's it y'all. Oh yeah, and home girl Emma, the coolest chick in the world says:

"Leave foos!"

8/21/2005 10:37 PM


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